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* Arizona signing Jared Veldheer has paid off for them. He is a key cog in the team’s surprise 3-0 record, having given up 0 sacks as the starting LT. I would give Oakland a lot of crap for letting him get away, but Oakland landed Donald Penn, who has been pretty good for them. The real loser of this LT musical chairs is Tampa Bay, who replaced Penn with a seemingly superior Anthony Collins, but so far Collins has not been the player for them that he was for Cincinnati.
* A big part of SF’s woes is the lack of pass rush from their edge ‘backers. 3 of the team’s 4 sacks have come from Justin Smith, with only 1 from the linebackers. The lack of edge pressure is magnifying the team’s issues with injured and young players in the secondary.
* Injuries are out of control. 197 players did not suit up this week due to being on IR, PUP, or NFI, with an additional 21 players out from suspension or on the special exemption list.
* I targeted DeMarco Murray in fantasy this year, and I wish I targeted him even harder than I did. He’s currently on pace for over 2,050 yards. Murray is an underrated player - he’s got a career 5.0 yard per carry average, and that’s purely on feature back carries - and the Dallas offensive line is full of talent.
* If you’re stuck watching a Buffalo game, just focus on Kyle Williams. Short of JJ Watt, he is the best non-edge-rusher defensive lineman in the game.
* Despite being 3-0, PFF has actually graded Arizona's offense the 6th worst of the season so far, and their defense the 9th worst.

Pick ‘Ems

Green Bay @ Chicago: Both of these teams are currently looking up at the Detroit Lions in their division standings. Do you expect it to stay that way? Me neither. Green Bay’s offense has been stuck in the mud, tied for 3rd fewest TDs in the NFC. Worse, only Tampa and St. Louis have given up more points in the conference. Chicago is coming off 2 prime time road wins, but have not been playing quite as well across the board as that would indicate. Their wins were largely fueled by 7 turnovers by their combined 2 opponents. Their offense mustered only 216 and 257 yards in those 2 contests, while their opponents out gained them with 359 and 414 yards, respectively. Credit the defense for grabbing the ball when they could, but these trends don’t tend to hold long term. Chicago’s offense and defense need to perform better play-in and play-out to keep winning.

Philadelphia @ San Francisco: A tale of two opposites. San Francisco has taken healthy leads into their 3 games, only to do nothing in the 2nd half and lose two of them. Philadelphia’s 1st halves have been impotent, while they have rallied strong in the second half to 3 victories. Few players have been a bigger burden for San Francisco than RT Jonathan Martin, which is why the team is so excited to see Anthony Davis back in practice. The 6th ranked Niners defense has largely held opponents in check, but penalties and offensive turnovers have moved the ball against them where opposing offenses haven’t - their 17 first downs yielded by penalty are tops in the league by a large margin. For the Niners to get back on track, they need to clean those things up in a hurry.

Buffalo @ Houston: One of these teams is going to be 3-1. Seriously. Barring any tie nonsense, that is. As mentioned above, this game does have two studs in JJ Watt and Kyle Williams. Last week, Ryan Fitzpatrick did what Ryan Fitzpatrick does, which is stink up the field after posting two efficient, winning games. EJ Manuel has been unimpressive, mostly throwing screens and dumpoffs and other short stuff, leaving a talent like Sammy Watkins out to rot. Manuel’s pass direction chart has him throwing an incredible amount of balls (39 of his 87 total) in the middle of the field, 9 yards or less, including 13 behind the line of scrimmage. No other QB’s pass chart looks like that.

Atlanta @ Minnesota: With Cassel on the IR, the Bridgewater era begins! Vegas must have some hope for Teddy, as the Vikings go into this game only 3 point dogs to the Falcons, who come into this game extra rested and with their offense firing on all cylinders after a tune-up against Tampa. Minnesota has been fairly hapless on offense, but they have been better defensively. They’re going to need more than the single-digit scores they’ve posted two weeks running to keep up with Atlanta.

New England @ Kansas City: New England is a 1st place team right now solely on the strength of their top ranked defense, which ranks in the top 5 in both yardage and points allowed. Good thing, because their 26th ranked offense has been going nowhere in a hurry, least of all in a 16 point effort last week against Oakland. Kansas City’s offense hasn’t fared much better, but they are coming off a 34 point stomping of Miami a week ago. Alex Smith continues to dink and dunk more than any QB not named EJ Manuel, but after the disaster of week 1, he’s at least gotten efficient at it - his 73% completion against Miami brought to mind his play in his final year in San Francisco. The matchup to watch here is Chandler Jones against a struh-guh-leeng Eric Fisher, who has shown little of the talent that made him a #1 overall pick.

Mainly because Al Davis is already dead. Jerry Jones on the other hand.... Then again maybe Mark Davis is James Dolan 2.0.

Its the NFL parity league. Going forward if they can get back to keeping their #1 picks and actually getting NFL level players out of those picks they will creep back into at least mediocrity by definition.

Also not sure about such a negative take by PFT on Dennis Allen. It might actually be a positive career move for the guy to actually get the hell out of there just 4 weeks into the season.

So it's ok for Tebow but a Muslim draws a flag? The NFL just keeps getting things wrong.

What's dumb is that I'm sure the rule is in place to stop some lame TD dances, like the worm. But seriously, why does the NFL care? They even banned "dunking" the ball over the goal posts.

But at this point, no in KC cares. That was some old school rocking at Arrowhead last night. I really wish I had driven up for the game. I don't know how good KC will be, but when things start off well, Arrowhead really suffocates opponents. And they don't need a stadium designed to amplify the sound to do it. Ive seen that stadium crush better teams.

But the next two games are on the road. Well see how good they are next week at SF.

Henry Standing Bear: It is a beautiful day at the Red Pony and continual soiree.

Castiel: I suggest we imbibe copious amounts of alcohol and just wait for the inevitable blast wave.

So it's ok for Tebow but a Muslim draws a flag? The NFL just keeps getting things wrong.

What's dumb is that I'm sure the rule is in place to stop some lame TD dances, like the worm. But seriously, why does the NFL care? They even banned "dunking" the ball over the goal posts.

But at this point, no in KC cares. That was some old school rocking at Arrowhead last night. I really wish I had driven up for the game. I don't know how good KC will be, but when things start off well, Arrowhead really suffocates opponents. And they don't need a stadium designed to amplify the sound to do it. Ive seen that stadium crush better teams.

But the next two games are on the road. Well see how good they are next week at SF.

So it's ok for Tebow but a Muslim draws a flag? The NFL just keeps getting things wrong.

What's dumb is that I'm sure the rule is in place to stop some lame TD dances, like the worm. But seriously, why does the NFL care? They even banned "dunking" the ball over the goal posts.

But at this point, no in KC cares. That was some old school rocking at Arrowhead last night. I really wish I had driven up for the game. I don't know how good KC will be, but when things start off well, Arrowhead really suffocates opponents. And they don't need a stadium designed to amplify the sound to do it. Ive seen that stadium crush better teams.

But the next two games are on the road. Well see how good they are next week at Santa Clara.

Just had to clarify that point.

As for the NFL they just have their priorities all backwards and confused. They already backtracked that it was not an penalty and a mistake. But your right why even care? They are trying to get stuff like this that is entertainment out of the game for whatever reasons while they completely got blindsided by all their other issues this off season.

Mainly because Al Davis is already dead. Jerry Jones on the other hand.... Then again maybe Mark Davis is James Dolan 2.0.

Its the NFL parity league. Going forward if they can get back to keeping their #1 picks and actually getting NFL level players out of those picks they will creep back into at least mediocrity by definition.

Also not sure about such a negative take by PFT on Dennis Allen. It might actually be a positive career move for the guy to actually get the hell out of there just 4 weeks into the season.

Everything I have heard from Mark Davis makes me think he's just a younger, creepier version of Al Davis. The Raiders job is basically a guillotine block waiting to happen. At this point, they're going to be begging hobos in cardboard boxes to take that job.

"I would be insulted if I could figure out exactly what it means."
--*Legion*

Mainly because Al Davis is already dead. Jerry Jones on the other hand.... Then again maybe Mark Davis is James Dolan 2.0.

Its the NFL parity league. Going forward if they can get back to keeping their #1 picks and actually getting NFL level players out of those picks they will creep back into at least mediocrity by definition.

Also not sure about such a negative take by PFT on Dennis Allen. It might actually be a positive career move for the guy to actually get the hell out of there just 4 weeks into the season.

Everything I have heard from Mark Davis makes me think he's just a younger, creepier version of Al Davis. The Raiders job is basically a guillotine block waiting to happen. At this point, they're going to be begging hobos in cardboard boxes to take that job.

Or... anyone who wants to be a millionaire. I'll take the job tomorrow.

Oakland is a blank slate. In 2015, they will have $56 million in free cap space, and no dead money.

Better yet, they can basically cut every free agent they signed this offseason without creating any dead money, and raise that total to about $90 million.

The Raiders in 2015 will be a completely different roster. Could be a great opportunity for a coach that can quickly create a culture that will attract worthwhile free agents to use all that money on.

I hope they actually pull off what they will want to do, which is to get Jon Gruden to come back. He would be a guy that would instantly change the perception of the Raiders and make free agents actually want to go there. And it would get him out of the f*cking announcer booth. And I would love to see Derek Carr get that kind of coaching-up, because he's actually smart enough to wrap his head around what Gruden will demand of him. Win-win-win.

I have enough reservations about Mark Davis as an owner to wonder whether or not Oakland is really a blank slate next year; that team has been eternally mismanaged for years, and nothing the younger Davis has done makes me think he's radically different than his father. If I'm Jon Gruden and I want back into coaching, why would I go there? The stench of failure on that team is massive, and Gruden is a high-profile enough name where he can go somewhere with the realistic possibility of not sucking, as opposed to going to Oakland, a franchise where there are a dozen years of utter failure. Gruden came into Tampa when it was already good and put that team over the top. I don't know why he'd go off to a really awful franchise rather than a team that currently has lots of promise and simply polishing it a bit.

"I would be insulted if I could figure out exactly what it means."
--*Legion*

I have enough reservations about Mark Davis as an owner to wonder whether or not Oakland is really a blank slate next year; that team has been eternally mismanaged for years, and nothing the younger Davis has done makes me think he's radically different than his father.

Hey, at least I go the Bonus "which rookie QB will win his first game first" question right!

I'm giving the game to Ponder. Winners must finish!

Spoken like a Bortles Believer (tm).

It's my deck and I'm gonna stack it!

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

If I'm Jon Gruden and I want back into coaching, why would I go there?

Absolute control. It would be a requirement before I even get on the plane to go meet about the job.

I'm not sure I agree with the criticism of Mark Davis. He handed over the operations to Reggie McKenzie, has not, as far as I can tell, gotten in McKenzie's way at all. The team stopped trading away their draft picks. Davis kept Dennis Allen through two complete 4-12 seasons, before firing him after this 0-4 start. Keeping Dennis Allen to the point of an 8-28 record is quite patient IMO.

He also seems to be making serious progress towards getting a new stadium out of a city that has hardly made doing so a priority.

Frankly, I think his biggest failing has been in keeping McKenzie, who has done alright in the draft, but less so in free agency. McKenzie threw money at Matt Schaub and Matt Flynn, threw money at MJD, and let guys like Jared Veldheer walk. I have not seen anything to suggest Davis was the one driving those decisions. Davis was apparently ready to fire Allen after the end of last season, but reportedly kept him at McKenzie's urging. It sounds to me like Davis listens to his football people. Allen would probably still be coaching if he could have at least squeezed out a single win.

I'm not seeing where Mark Davis is the problem. While it has not worked out in the short term, the Raiders under the younger Davis have been a lot more patient, and stopped treating the draft like a toilet.

He also seems to be making serious progress towards getting a new stadium out of a city that has hardly made doing so a priority.

This outcome is essential for any long term turnaround in Oakland. The lease situation (while the A's just renewed for 10 years) gives the threat to move the team teeth. Just remains to be seen if he can repair the organization's relationship with the city, if he has any intention of doing so. Personally, I don't think he's that cunning.

Honestly though, if they move the team (again), I'm using that as my out after 40 years. (Especially, if they don't change the name). I just can't continue to abide the fan culture and perennial circus.

Basically quick throws to receivers. This is part of why Seattle holds so much. Because they've made the conscious decision to put more people in the box and to settle for a few holding penalties in exchange for being able to stuff the box.